Excitement to the Extreme!!!

True contentment with God's will for your life is when you find that the "surprises" He gives you are exactly what you desperately desire!

It's just so much fun that way!

(Thank you bunches to the sweet friends who left these balloons on our doorstep!

Your love is a blessing to us all!)

This man loves his wife as Jesus loves the church.....
I have a feeling that he's married to a woman after God's own heart...

and I love their example of obedience to the Holy Spirit's leading in their lives!

...yet I creep to Thy throne of grace...

Read this poem today on the Desiring God blog.
Loved it!

It made me stop and think deeply about God's love for me...
It makes me want to love this way, my neighbors, that stoney hearts might bleed!


Discipline
Throw away thy rod,
Throw away thy wrath:
O my God,
Take the gentle path.

For my heart's desire
unto thine is bent:
I aspire
To a full consent.

Not a word or look
I affect to own,
But by book,
And thy book alone.

Though I fail, I weep:
Though I halt in pace,
Yet I creep
To the throne of grace.

Then let wrath remove;
Love will do the deed:
For with love
Stony hearts will bleed.

Love is swift of foot;
Love's a man of war,
And can shoot,
And can hit from far.

Who can scape his bow?
That which wrought on thee,
Brought thee low,
Needs must work on me.

Throw away thy rod;
Though man frailties hath,
Thou art God:
Throw away thy wrath.

(George Herbert: The Complete English Works, 174-175)

A Cross Centered 3 yr Old.

This morning as the boys and I drove down to CLS, we decided to play a game. We took turns listing off ways that we see, taste, and experience God's love for us.....

Some of the things listed:

The Sun, moon, and stars.
The Bible.
The Birds and Trees.
A world to live in.
Forgiveness.
Family - Daddy, Momma, Brother and Baby.
An engine to make our car run. (G's class is studying transportation this month =)
Our church family at RBC
This list went on....

Funny thing was every time it was J's turn to list something, he would say the same thing....
"Jesus died on the cross for our sins."

As a recent reader of "Living the Cross Centered Life", I thought to myself....
CJ Mahaney would be so pleased! =)
This made me smile, but brought home a message to my heart as well.

In his child -ness, Jaydon has latched onto one thing he knows about Jesus, and he will repeat that over and over in answer to any question about God.
For him it is simple..... Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins. He hasn't become overly familiar with that great truth and moved on to expressing what seems more knowledgable or profound.

I want to be three years old again. I want to be stuck continuously on that one glorious truth:
Jesus Christ took my place, bore my shame, and by His suffering I have been healed.
Everything else must flow out of this!

NOT Giving Up...

"For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work

and the love that you showed for His sake in serving the saints,

as you still do.

And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness

to have the full assurance of hope until the end,

so that you may not be sluggish,

but imitators of those who through faith and patience

inherit the promises." ~ Hebrews 6:10-12

Are you scared INTO your wits?

Randy Alcorn says...
"The fear of God is a profound respect for His holiness, which includes a fear of the consequences of disobeying Him. It shouldn't scare us out of our wits; it should scare us into them.

God says...
"The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death" (Proverbs 14:27)."

Read his entire post here:

Lessons from Jonah

Over the weekend, Steve and I watched the Veggie Tales rendition of the story of Jonah with our boys.

I have been studying through some of the Minor Prophets in the past weeks, and all dancing, singing vegetables aside, I felt prompted to make the book of Jonah my study for this week.

I'm reading through the short book each day, and then digging in deeper with my trusty Bible Knowledge Commentary, Concordance and the Holy Spirit.

It's Tuesday, and I'm already knee deep in wonderful truth that God is using to strengthen my faith and obedience. I love His word!!!

A few of my observations of the book as a whole:

Facts of Interest:

~Jonah was the only OT prophet to attempt running away from God.

~Jonah was 1 of 4 OT prophets that Jesus referred to during His earthly ministry. Matt. 12:41

Date:

~ Jonah took place somewhere in Jereboam's reign. 793-753 B.C. 2 Kings 14:25

Setting:

King Jereboam was successfully expanding his territory, while the Assyrian kingdom was in decline. However, prophets, Amos and Hosea had already been called to preach that the Assyrians would rise and Israel would be taken captive as a result of their disobedience to God's law.

Part of Jonah's hesitancy to obey might be explained by a patriotic fear and hesitancy to aid a nation that would become a future captor of his homeland.

(Application: Fear leads to disobedience.)

4 Truths that I see demonstrated in the book of Jonah:

1)God's concern for gentile people. Through Israel (Is.49:3) God's message of compassion was to be preached to all people.

2) The Sovereignty of God to accomplish His purposes. Though Israel was failing terribly in her missionary task, God faithfully called them to repentance - even through a running, disobedient, angry, self-centered prophet.

3)The response of the gentile Ninevah served as a rebuke to a wayward and unrepentant Israel. Even the ship's mariners demonstrate a spiritual insight (calling the sleeping man of God to prayer) and concern for Jonah (rowing hard to avoid having to throw Jonah overboard) in stark contrast to Jonah (and Israel's) lack of concern for God's law and the gentile nations around them.

4)Jonah, himself, was a symbol to Israel of her disobedience and indifference. God's punishment of Jonah mirrors His wrath over Israel's disobedience, while at the same time, His gracious and merciful dealings with Jonah mirror His slowness to anger and restoration of Israel.

Jonah's account of this story was written from a repentant heart...this is how it was shared with Israel, calling them to the same desired response to God's rebuke.

Over viewing the book of Jonah left me warming my heart next to the fire of His love for me:

~His faithful message of salvation to all people - including gentiles - me!

~His redemption of me. His relenting of what I do deserve, and merciful outpouring of what I don't deserve.

~His righteous punishment of my sin. Just like Jonah - it's the belly of the whale that draws me to repentance. I praise Him for His chastening.

~When I run, He stops me. When I repent, He gives me another command to obey. This is grace.

~He causes me to face questions that reveal my heart, so that I can change. "Do you do well to be angry?" He is so patient to not just zap me then and there.

~He allows me to be a part of His glorifying work despite my utter unworthiness. This I do not deserve, nor ever will.

Historical details obtained from Cook's Bible Knowledge Series